The District Court of Colombo yesterday (14) decided to take up for hearing on 20 February 2017 the case seeking a Court order to re-appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
This plaint, filed in the District Court of Colombo, states that former General Secretary of the SLFP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa had violated the Party constitution and handed over the Chairmanship to President Maithripala Sirisena.

The publication of the report compiled by the National Delimitation Committee headed by Ashoka Peries has been delayed once again. The Report of the Committee set up to look into complaints arising from delimitation of new wards, was scheduled to be handed over to the Minister of Local Governments and Provincial Councils today. However speaking to NewsRadio Secretary to the Ministry of Local Governments and Provincial Council Kamal Padmasiri said the Committee has requested an extension to the deadline.

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Prof. G.L. Peiris, in an interview with the Ceylon Today said, the government has not yet declared its official stance on the Executive Presidency
The government must tell us what stand it has adopted on the Executive Presidency; whether it will abolish it as promised, or whether it has decided to retain it with limited powers, or whether it has changed its mind, Prof. Peiris said.

Q How do you analyse the current political situation of the North?
Our people are worried today because both the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), as the two main parties, talk about a political solution within a unitary State. We, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), received a mandate from our people to secure power devolution under a Federal Constitution. That is fully-pledged power devolution between the centre and the provinces. That means autonomy should be given to the North and the East as they are the traditional areas of habitation of Tamils and Muslims. People gave a mandate to the TNA to achieve this. Our understanding now is that the UNP and the SLFP insist on retaining the unitary character. It would pave the way for the ‘division of people’ and the country. The UNP even adopted a resolution at the recent Working Committee to this effect. Yet, a Federal system can unite the three communities - the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. It is a method experienced in various countries.

Sri Lanka wins ‘Award for Excellence in Human Development Reporting’ for national and regional reports
New York: Sri Lanka was among the four countries which won Awards for Excellence in Human Development Reporting at a ceremony held at the United Nations Headquarters on 6 December.
The award recognises recent national and regional human development reports that have excelled in crafting and promoting human solutions to development challenges.

Leaders of Tamil Nadu, across the political divide, privately but effectively supported the Indian government’s policy of opposing efforts by the US and Norway to rescue Velupillai Prabhakaran so that his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) lived to fight another day, says Shivshankar Menon, India’s former National Security Adviser (NSA) in his book; “Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy”.

The government will not investigate allegations raised against the head of intelligence Sisira Mendis despite calls to do so by a UN committee.
State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene told The Sunday Leader that he does not see any need to investigate Mendis as the allegations against him are baseless.
However Ruwan Wijewardene said the government will look into the concerns raised by the UN committee. The UN Committee against torture last week issued the government a deadline to investigate the allegations on Sisira Mendis.

A special meeting attended by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Opposition leader R.Sampanthan and Joint Opposition members was held at the Prime Minister’s Office at Parliament yesterday to discuss the proposed constitutional reforms.
Former President Rajapaksa and Joint Opposition members said that the government should first reveal what its proposals.

There seems to be a rethinking on the part of the government regarding the nature and extent of constitutional reform. The SLFP is of the stance that the Constitution should be amended without going in for a referendum. SLFP media spokesman Minister Dilan Perera said “We have spoken with the President and taken a clear decision on this. Electoral reforms must take place and a new system introduced and we believe in maximum devolution of power within a unitary state. We have also made it clear that we will not support the merger of provinces or to lessen the power of the governors to make it a nominal position.” For its part, the UNP has taken the position that it would support a system where the office of executive president would continue with special powers that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution had conferred.

Mahinda Rajapaksa sits at a desk in his party office beneath a photo of himself. He’s not especially tall but solid in the chest and arms; like an old rugby prop, his head seems to rest on his shoulders without much need for a neck. He’s never seen in public without his brown scarf, supposedly signifying the sweaty rags of Sri Lanka’s hard-toiling farmers. On his fingers this man of the people wears three chunky gold rings and on his wrist a bracelet of jade balls. Everyone here still calls him Mr President.

While this Sangha. . . has democracy, it has neither [a] special country nor nation nor caste. To such a society which has no country, nation, or caste, every human being is the same. . . . Those who fight against the Tamils are not Buddhists.
—Naravila Dhammaratana[1]